Night Monster (1942) dir. Ford Beebe, Universal Pictures Corporation
A monster movie with just a pinch of old dark house feels and with no comedy?
Nestled deep within the swamps stands the manor home of the reclusive Dr. Curt Ingston (Ralph Morgan). Among his servants, the living ones anyway, are Rolf (Bela Lugosi) the stern butler; Lawrie (Leif Erickson) the handsy chauffeur; Miss Judd (Doris Lloyd) the housekeeper with a fixation on the Ingston family; Agar Singh (Nils Asther) mystic of the far east and semi-permeant houseguest; Torque (Cyril Delavanti) a twisted hunchback who patrols the grounds fiercer than any watchdog; and finally Margret Ingston (Fay Helm), Curt's darling little sister who is incurably mad.
The routine of the house is shaken by the arrival of three men:
Dr. King (Lionel Atwill)
Dr. Timmons (Frank Reicher)
Dr. Phipps (Francis Pierlot)
Yes, all three men are doctors and they can claim to be both personal and professional acquaintances of Dr. Ingston. Dr. Lynn Harper (Irene Harvey) is a late arrival but she wasn't summoned by Curt, but rather Margret who is determined to be declared sane, not matter what Miss Judd says. She is dropped off by the Ingston's sole neighbor, mystery writer Dick Baldwin (Don Porter), when her car breaks down.
She'll have to spend the night though, which is fine as Curt wishes to do two things and needs witnesses. The first is to accuse the assembled doctors for being responsible for Curt being locked in his wheelchair. The second is a miracle performed by Agar Singh when the mystic makes a skeleton appear out of thin air.
When the doctors start turning up dead, Dick rushes over to help along with Captain Beggs (Robert Homans). They confront Ingston, but the man has no arms or legs so he clearly can't the killer, can he?
Better than it has the right to be; Lugosi is utterly wasted as the butler; honestly he might have been better served in the Ingston role.
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